1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording/reproducing apparatus which records data on a recording medium having a large capacity and has an area for managing the data recorded on the recording medium. The present invention also relates to a recording/reproducing apparatus which records data in units having different sizes, and a recording/reproducing method and a recording medium therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recording/reproducing apparatuses for CDs (Compact Discs) and DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs) using optical disks as their recording media are widely used and are expected to increase in their recording capacity.
FIG. 5 shows a data structure used in the user data area in a DVD. In the figure, parities are added to user data in two different directions. Reference numeral 51 denotes the user data, specifically, one recorded data block made up of 16 sectors, from sector 0 to sector 15. Reference numeral 52 denotes the PI parity added in the row direction, while reference numeral 53 denotes the PO parity added in the column direction. Since the parities are added in the row and column directions as shown in the figure, decreasing the number of the sectors (currently 16 sectors) or decreasing the number of pieces of the user data to be employed without changing the number of parities requires a significant change in the recorded data block structure. Further, if the method for adding the parities is changed, it is necessary to carry out different decoding operations for the ordinary parity and the parity for the altered data block structure in the reproduction, which complicates the configuration of the decode circuit and deteriorates the error correction capability. Therefore, practically, the data must be recorded in minimum record block units of 32K bytes even when information to be recorded is small. Thus, a small data unit is difficult to record in the data structure of the conventional DVD.
In the field of DVDs, recordable/reproduceable optical disks such as DVD-RAMs, on which data can be recorded a plurality of times, and DVD-Rs, on which data can be recorded only once, have been developed together with their recording/reproducing apparatuses.
In data recording on a disk, information for which data is recorded is recorded in a specific management area and then read out to carry out the control.
FIG. 6 shows areas on a DVD-R disk. The area consisting of a PCA (Power Calibration Area) and an RMA (Recording Management Area) indicated by reference numerals 31 and 32, respectively, is an R-information area, which is the management area for the recorded data. Reference numeral 33 denotes a read-in area, 34 denotes a user data recording area, 35 denotes a readout area, and 36 denotes the start of the next block of recorded information. Generally, the read-in area and the user data area are separated such that their border exists between 02FFFFh and 030000h in terms of ECC block (correcting block) addresses. Further, the size of the RMA area is determined such that the RMA area can record a predetermined number of ECC blocks.